Public health objectives
1. Describe public health and its significance in fostering communal well-being.
2. Describe how public health practices have changed throughout time, taking into account
significant historical advancements and modifications to health tactics.
3. Examine and talk about current public health concerns and arguments, such as healthcare
access, disease prevention, and health equity.
4. Examine how public health nurses and other medical professionals may help with
community health issues.
5. Analyze how public health policies and practices affect people, communities, and
healthcare professionals.
What is PHN?
The practice of promoting and safeguarding population health via the application of nursing,
social, and public health sciences expertise is known as public health nursing (American Public
Health Association, Public Health Nursing Section, 1996). In order to promote health and
prevent illness and disability, public health nursing practice focuses on population health.
The majority of the professional public health workforce is made up of public health nurses, who
play a variety of vital tasks. Public health nurses collaborate with the families and individuals
that make up communities as well as the systems that have an impact on them. They operate out
of mobile vans and even dog sleds in a range of locations, including health departments, schools,
residences, community health centers, clinics, prisons, and workplaces.
, Public health nurses can significantly improve public health thanks to their expertise. Programs
and policies that address the needs of vulnerable populations are designed and implemented with
the help of their professional expertise and special connections to the people they serve. A solid
foundation for public health leadership roles is provided by a background in clinical nursing
combined with information from the social sciences and public health.
Public Health Goals
1. Prevent Sickness
2. Promote health
3. Protect neighborhoods
4. Increase life span
5. Decrease disability
6. Improve quality-of-life
Primary Public Health Functions
Promoting and enhancing the health of individuals and their communities is the goal of public
health. Researching diseases, responding to epidemics, creating health programs, expanding
access to healthcare, and educating the public about appropriate medical care are all tasks
performed by public health professionals. Protecting people, groups, communities, and entire
populations can all be part of public health.